Allen Carrel recently called police to tell them about the latest drug deal he watched go down in his South Side neighborhood.

"Police say, 'Well, why did you move here? Why don't you move out if you don't like it?'" said Carrel, who said he calls police at least once a week.

Others complain that they have heard the same.

Allen Carrel recently called police to tell them about the latest drug deal he watched go down in his South Side neighborhood.

"Police say, 'Well, why did you move here? Why don't you move out if you don't like it?'" said Carrel, who said he calls police at least once a week.

Others complain that they have heard the same.

"They tell us to move out of the neighborhood," said Ellen Bowers, who also lives on the South Side. "We just want to clean our neighborhood up," she said this week.

Carrel, Bowers and other neighbors are upset, and they are telling city officials about it at community meetings and at a recent City Council meeting.

James Ragland, aide to Columbus City Council member Charleta Tavares, said he has received more than 20 similar calls from residents from areas including the South Side, Linden and the King-Lincoln District.

"We don't want to see a mass exodus of our best residents leaving the community because police are recommending (it)," Ragland said. "We don't want our officers to be the tipping point."

It's a big enough issue that city lawyers discussed it with Police Chief Walter Distelzweig this week as they talked about what they were hearing about police, good and bad, in the community.

"If we find out something like that happens, we'll look into it if we have the name of an officer," said Sgt. Rich Weiner, a police spokesman who attended the meeting.

"Our mission is to serve the communities of Columbus and the citizens who live within. The solution is not for an officer to tell them to move out."

City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr. said even one officer suggesting someone move is one too many.

Tavares, who said she's heard the complaints, said, "We don't want our residents to feel their neighborhood isn't worthy of living in."

South Side leaders have brought up the issue at recent community meetings with Columbus City Councilman Andrew Ginther.

"It's not acceptable or appropriate," said Ginther, chairman of the council's public safety committee. He said he has discussed the problem with Public Safety Director Mitchell Brown, and he thinks most officers want to work with residents.

Carrel has lived in the Ganthers Place neighborhood for seven years and leads the area block watch. He said he knows the police work hard and campaigned for the city income-tax increase approved in August.

"We just want the same respect as any other neighborhood," he said.

Pfeiffer said he's talked with both residents and police about improving communication.

"The fundamental issue I always express to police is, 'Can you get out of your cruisers and talk to your neighbors?' " Pfeiffer said.

Jim Gilbert, president of Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, said officers become weary over time.

"It's like the OK Corral out there," he said.

"I know it's very frustrating for officers on the street, we're so overworked. We want citizens' support."